Foundry

Dr. mohd Majid

Pattern : A Pattern may be defined as replica or model of the desired casting which, when packed in a suitable moulding
material, produces a cavity called mould. This cavity when filled with molten metal, produces the desired casting after
solidification of the poured metal. The process of making a wooden or metallic pattern is known as pattern making.
The important considerations which a pattern maker is to make in order to plan the casting successfully are following

1.Number of casting to be made from the same pattern

2. The appearance and surface finish of the casting to be produced
3. Facility and ease in moulding
4. Method of withdrawal of the pattern from the mould

Pattern Materials
Wood
It is the common material used for pattern making because the following advantages

1. It is cheap and available in abundance.

2. It can be easily shaped into different forms and intricate designs.
3. Its manipulation is easy because of lightness in weight.
4. It can be preserved for a fairly long time by applying proper preservatives like varnish.
5. Good surface finish can be easily obtained by only planing and sanding
Plaster Plaster of paris (gypsum cement) is also used for making patterns and coreboxes. It can be easily worked and casted
into desired shape. It has a high compressive strength (up to 300 kg/ cm2 ). Its specific use is in making small patterns and
core-boxes involving intricate shapes and closer dimensional control.

Wax Patterns which are generally used in investment casting process are made by wax. The wax patterns are made by pouring
the heated wax into a split die or metal mould. The die is kept cool by circulating the water around it. After complete cooling,
the die parts are separated and wax in shape of pattern is taken out.

Plastic At present, plastics are finding their place as a pattern materials due to their specific characteristics such as high
strength and resistance to wear, lightness in weight, fine surface finish and low solid shrinkage etc.

Metal It is used for pattern when a large number of casting with a closer dimensional accuracy is desired. The pattern of metal
has a much longer life than wooden pattern as it does not change its shape when subjected to moist conditions. A metal
pattern is itself cast from a wooden pattern called “Master Pattern”. Cast-iron, aluminium and its alloys, brass and white metal
are commonly used as a pattern metals.
Types of Pattern
The type of patterns selected for a particular casting depends upon many factors such as type of moulding process, number
and size of casting and anticipated difficulty of moulding on account of design or typical shape of casting. The most common
types of pattern are listed and described below :

(a) Solid or Single Piece Pattern

(b) Split Pattern

(c) Multispecies pattern

(d) Gated Pattern

(e) Sweep Pattern

 (a) Solid or Single Piece Pattern- This type of pattern is the simplest of all the patterns. It is made without joints, partings or
loose pieces. These are the simplest and least expensive types of pattern. The pattern is made of a single piece and expected
to lie entirely in the cope or drag
Split Pattern
A split pattern consists of two or more parts that fit together to form the complete pattern. The parts are known as the cope (upper
part) and the drag (lower part) of the pattern. Split patterns allow for the creation of larger and more complex castings by
facilitating easy removal from the mold and incorporating cores.
Multi-Piece Pattern
A multi-piece pattern is used for designs that are more complicated and difficult to construct. These types of patterns consist
of three or more patterns, each of which contributes to the process of mould production.
Take, for instance, the pattern consisting of three separate pieces. The top, the bottom, and the middle are all components
that make up the design. The component at the top is called the cope, the part at the bottom is called the drag, and the part in
the middle is called the checkbox.
Gate Pattern
The gate pattern, also known as the gated pattern, is utilised to manufacture several pieces within a single mould. A gated
pattern is simply a pattern composed of many patterns. These are unstructured patterns with attached gates and runners, as
shown in the figure below. Moulds with several cavities are utilised in the mass manufacture of casings.
Sweep Pattern
The cavity for casting is created by rotating a wooden board along one of its edges while working with the sweep pattern. It
includes three components: a spindle, a base, and a sweep or wooden board. It is known for producing a casting in a remarkably
short period. The vertically directed spindle is attached to the base sand. Then, the spindle is rotated by an axis called the sweep
axis, turning the plane by 360°. To create large, consistent moulds with a circular cross-section, the sweep pattern is employed.
Types of Pattern Allowance
There are the following types of pattern allowances are used in the casting process.
•Shrinkage Allowance
•Draft Allowance
•Machining Allowance
•Deformation or Camber Allowance
•Shake or Rapping Allowance
Shrinkage Allowance
Shrinkage is defined as the reduction during the cooling or solidification process.
This is a common property of all materials.
The magnitude of shrinkage varies from material to material, but each and every material has to shrinks.
For avoiding this, the pattern is made larger than the required size of the casting product with the help of the shrink rule.Then
the difference between actual pattern size and required casting size is known as shrinkage allowance.

Show in the figure.

Draft Allowance
During removing the pattern from the mold cavity, the parallel surfaces in the direction in which the pattern is withdrawn are
slightly damaged and also converted into slightly tapered surfaces.To compensate for these changes, these parallel surfaces on
the pattern are slightly tapered by about 1 to 2 degrees.By which removal of the pattern from the mold cavity becomes easy and
suitable and also does not affect the casting in any way.
These small changes in the surface of the pattern are called draft allowances to protect it from damage.
Machining Allowance
As we know that the product of the casting process gives a very poor surface finish, so the surface of the final product of
casting always is rough. But we required a product that is polished and has a good surface finish.
So in order to have a good surface finish, the final product of the casting is machined with the help of a lathe machine,
milling machine, shaper machine, slotting machine with these processes such as turning, grinding, shaping, drilling to obtain
a surface finish.
This allowance is added to the basic size of the pattern.
It ranges from less than 2 mm to 15 mm depending on the size and material of the pattern.
Deformation or Camber Allowance
When the metal is in the cooling process, stress is developed during the solidifying of this metal due to uneven metal thickness
in the casting process. This stress can cause deformation or bend in the casting.
To avoid this bending or deformation in castings, camber is provided in the opposite direction so that when bending occurs due
to uneven thickness of metal, the casting product becomes straight.
These small changes in a pattern to avoid bending in the casting process are called bending or camber allowances.
Shake or Rapping Allowance
When the pattern is to be removed from the sand of the casting, a slight shake is required to remove the pattern from the sand
and this will increase the dimension of the casting slightly. To avoid this increase in the dimension of the casting, the pattern
is made slightly smaller than the casting.
These small changes in the dimensions of the pattern in the casting process are called the shaking or rapping allowance.
Casting- Casting means pouring molten metal into a mould or cavity,
and allowing it to solidify. When solidified, the desired metal object is
taken out from the mould by breaking the mould. The solidified object
is called the casting.
Flask - Moulding flask holds the
sand mould intact. Depending
upon the position of flask in the
mould it is referred to as by
various names
1. Drag – Lower moulding flask
2. Cope – Upper moulding flask
3. Cheek – Intermediate moulding flask
used in three piece moulding
Pattern – Pattern is the replica of the final
object to be made with some
modifications
Parting Line – Dividing line b/w two
moulding flasks that makes up the sand
mould
Core – Cores are compact mass of core
sand that when placed in mould cavity at
required location with proper alignment
does not allow the molten metal to
occupy space for solidification in that
portion and hence help to produce
hollowness in the casting.
CORE BOX- Cores are made by means of core boxes comprising of either single or in two parts. Core boxes are generally
made of wood or metal and are of several types.
Half core box
This is the most common type of core box. The two identical halves of a symmetrical core prepared in the half core box are
shown in Fig. Two halves of cores are pasted or cemented together after baking to form a complete core.

Split core box

Split core boxes are made in two parts as shown in Fig. They form the complete core by only one
ramming. The two parts of core boxes are held in position by means of
clamps and their alignment is maintained by means of dowel pins.
Core Print- Core print is an added projection on the pattern and it forms a seat in the mould on which the sand core rests
during pouring of the mould.
Types of Moulding Sand

Following are the 8 different types of moulding sands:

•Greensand
•Dry sand
•Loam sand
•Facing sand
•Backing sand
•Parting sand
•Core sand
1.Green Sand
it is a mixture of silica sand with 18 to 30% clay, having total water of 6 to 8%. It is soft, light and porous with clay and
water furnishing the bond for green sand.
In green sand, It is slightly wet when squeezed by hand. It has the ability to maintain the shape and impression given to it
under the pressure. The green sand can be easily available and it has a low cost. The mould that is prepared in this sand is
called green sand mould. It is commonly used for the production of ferrous and non-ferrous castings.
2- Dry Sand
The Green sand that has been dried or backed after the mould is made is called dry sand. They are suitable for large
castings. Moulds prepared in dry sand are known as dry sand moulds. If we talk about the physical composition of dry sand,
it is similar to green sand except for water.
Loam Sand
3- Loam Sand – Sand with 50% of clay is called loam sand. They are also suitable for large castings. It is a mixture of sand
and clay and water is present in such a quantity that it forms a thin plastic paste. Loam dries hard and the Ingredients are–
fine sands, fine ground refractories, clay, graphite and fibrous reinforcement .
4- Facing Sand
It forms the face of the mould. The facing sand is used directly next to the pattern surface and comes into direct contact
with the molten metal when the molten metal is poured into the mould. It should have high strength and refractivity as it
comes in contact with molten metal. It is made of clay and silica sand in addition to unused sand.
5- Backing Sand
The backing sand is also called floor sand used to back up the facing sand. It is an old and frequently used moulding sand is
used for backing purpose. It is sometimes called black sand because of the addition of coal dust and burning due to in
contact with the molten metal.
6- Parting sand : Parting sand is clean clay-free silica sand without binder and moisture. It prevents the
clinging of sand masses of cope and drag.

7- Core sand is used for making cores and it is sometimes also known as oil sand. Core sand is highly rich silica sand mixed
with oil binders such as core oil which composed of linseed oil, resin, light mineral oil and other bind materials. Pitch or flours
and water may also be used in large cores for the sake of economy.
Grain shape and size- The grain size is carefully monitored since it has an impact on the surface structure of the cast
piece, which will be too rough if the particle size is too large. Foundry sands usually have a size distribution from 0,1 mm
– 0,8 mm with a mean size between 0,2 mm and 0,45 mm. A standard parameter to express the size of molding sands is
the AFS fineness number (AFS = American Foundry Society). This number is calculated from the size distribution, which
is determined by standard ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) sieves.
Properties of Moulding Sand
Porosity (Permeability)
Porosity, also known as permeability, is a crucial property of moulding sand, representing its ability to allow gases to pass
through. During the pouring of molten metal into the sand cavity, gases and steam are generated. This property depends on
the shape, size of sand particles and the amount of clay, binding material, and moisture in the mixture.

Refractoriness is defined as the ability of molding sand to withstand high temperatures without breaking down or fusing thus
facilitating to get sound casting.

Cohesiveness
Cohesiveness refers to the sand's ability to hold its particles together, providing strength to the moulding sand. Insufficient
cohesiveness may lead to mould collapse during handling . Clay and bentonite improve cohesiveness.

Adhesiveness
Adhesiveness is the property of sand that causes sand particles to stick to the sides of the moulding box, facilitating proper
lifting of the cope along with the sand.

Flowability
Flowability represents the moulding sand's ability to free flow and fill the recesses and fine details in the pattern, flowability
varies with moisture content.

Collapsibility
Collapsibility is the property of sand that causes the sand mould to collapse automatically after the solidification of the
casting. The mould should disintegrate into small sand particles with minimal force during the solidification of the casting.
Additives

Additives are the materials generally added to the molding and core sand mixture to develop some special
property in the sand. Some commonly used additives for enhancing the properties of molding and core sands
are coal dust, corn flour, dextrin, sea coal, pitch, wood flour, silica flour.

Binders can be either inorganic or organic substance. Binders included in the inorganic group are clay sodium silicate and port
land cement etc. In foundry shop, the clay acts as binder. Binders included in the organic group are dextrin, molasses, cereal
binders, linseed oil and resins like phenol formaldehyde, urea formaldehyde etc.
Permanent mould casting

Permanent mould casting is a process for producing a large number of castings using a single reusable mould. The casting
process simply involves pouring molten metal into a mould where it cools and solidifies. The mould is then opened, the casting
removed, and the mould is reused. The mould is made from a high-temperature metallic material, such as cast iron or hot work
die steel, which can withstand the repeated heating and cooling involved with large volume production.

Centrifugal casting: In centrifugal casting, a permanent mold is rotated continuously at high speeds (300 to 3000 rpm) as the
molten metal is poured. The molten metal spreads along the inside mold wall, where it solidifies after cooling. Lighter
impurities and inclusions move towards the inside diameter and can be machined away following the casting. Casting
machines may be either horizontal or vertical-axis